Gone but Not Forgotten
by Naftie
Summary: A number comes up, and it hits a little closer to home for Reese. R&R please!
1. Chapter 1

_**Person of Interest**_** does not belong to me.**

**Enjoy.**

**~POI~**

Finch had arrived at the library earlier than he usually did. Since Reese had been there before him these past few days, he wanted to throw off the ex-CIA agent. Reese had been able to forgive Finch for not telling him about Sarah's case, knowing that Finch had meant well, but it was better for Reese to know about the cases, even if it meant remembering painful memories. It had been a few weeks from that case, but they have been able to reestablish their trust, and back to their banter.

Seeing that Reese was nowhere to be found, Finch let out a sigh of relief. He limped towards his monitors, turning them on, and walked towards the kitchen. Setting the kettle to heat up, he walked back to the main room. Typing on his password he wondered whose life was in danger, and how long would it take for them to finish. He looked around the library for a book, when he heard the kettle whistle, he quickly typed for the file of their current number, before walking away to make his tea.

Walking back, he expected some hot shot dealer, gambler with money problems, or some wannabe mob boss who pissed off the wrong person. He expected something with that nature, but not this.

He never expected this because he failed to search deeper on a number long before he and Reese began working together. A number he was too late to save.

Their current number is Joshua Arnt, Peter and Jessica's 7 year old son.

Finch's blood ran cold. How could he have missed this? He had gotten everything on Jessica when he got her number. If she had a son, he would have known about it. He would have to find out later, right now her son was in danger and he needed their help.

Just one thing though, how the hell was he going to tell Reese?

'The same way I always tell him, I guess' he thought to himself. With a keystroke he called Reese. By now the taller man must up and about, probably getting coffee for himself and tea for him, or a box of doughnuts.

"Morning, Finch" Reese greeted, "miss me?"

"Mr. Reese I think you should come and see this" Finch said.

"The Machine gave you another number. Who is it this time?" the taller man asked.

"Yes, but I think it's best if you should come and see this for yourself" he suggested, already thinking of ways to show this to Reese.

He just hoped that Reese would be able to handle this.

**~POI~**

**Well, this is a turn of events. I had originally put this to thought on tumblr, in hopes that someone would do a fic about it, but with no bites, I decided to take a shot of it. If you want to take a shot of this, that is fine by me. All I ask is that I would like to know about it too. As always, R&R.**

**P.S. And just like in Firewall, I have no idea where I'll be going with this, so please bear with me. **


	2. Chapter 2

**I want to thank Dragonhaven and Maddsgirl75 for being awesome betas. Yep, yep. Thanks to them I can feel more confident on my writing, and continue on. Make sure you give them love. As I told them, I am really excited for this story. It's still in the works, but I think I have more or less of an idea, and two possible different outcomes.**

**As always **_**Person of Interest**_** does not belong to me.**

**Enjoy.**

**~POI~**

When Finch asked him to come and see the number, Reese didn't know what to expect. He thought it was a mysterious number and Finch needed his insight on what could the threat be. It wouldn't be the first time though. There had been occasions before in which Finch had asked him to have a look. But, this time, it wasn't the way Finch requested. It was how he requested it. There had been hesitation, and a hint of fear, in his voice. Was Finch again afraid of how he would react? Of him going off the grid to get the number done with?

The thought of Finch not trusting him hurt. Had he not proven himself with the Jenkins case? Had he not asked Finch not to do that again, even if he had the best intentions in mind? He sighed. Well, whatever Finch had to show him, he would know when he got there.

He made a quick stop at the doughnut shop remembering to get Finch's favorite pastry, a cup of tea tea and a coffee.

**~POI~**

When he arrived, he expected Finch to already have the number's info. He expected a picture, some papers, and a review of nearly about the number's life.

Instead he came to an empty glass and Finch, sitting in front of his computer, staring at a photo. "So whose number have we got this time, Finch?" Reese asked, as he set the box of doughnuts on the table, and handing the tea to Finch.

Finch looked at him. His lips were thin, speechless. It was now or never, Finch thought. Reese was going to find out either way, and he didn't want to betray the trust that they'd both worked so hard to regain. He stood up and handed Reese the picture. Reese looked at the photo and his eyes widened. He looked at Finch, then at the photo, and at Finch again silently asking, begging, him for this to be a mistake.

"Joshua's, Mr. Reese. Joshua Arnt´s number." Finch said confirming Reese's suspicion. Reese felt a sudden cold come over his body. He felt nauseous, sick to his stomach. Finch, noticing Reese's sudden sickness, pulled his chair over to him and urged him to sit down. Reese sat down, resting his forehead on his free hand.

He looked so much like her. Jessica. He had her brown eyes and brown hair that reached his shoulders. He had a good mixture of both parents in him. He smiled for a bit, remembering the first time he and Jessica had talked about having a family. It had been on one of their dates, before they went on the trip to Mexico.

_John and Jessica were walking on a park, hand-in-hand. They had dated for almost six months, but they knew they wanted to be with each other, and possibly get married. The subject of marriage hadn't come up yet, but the thought had crossed their minds._

_They were walking for a bit. When John asked Jessica if she wanted to sit down she agreed, saying that she would like to rest before walking back home. They had just come out from a restaurant, so they were both full and just a bit tired. John showed her to some swings where they could both sit down on, even though there were some benches nearby. Jessica laughed and pulled him towards the swings. When she sat, she asked John to push her, something he gladly did. He loved this side of her, her childish innocence. He thought of how happy he felt being with her, as if there was nothing in the world that would be able to stop him. John was hopelessly in love with this woman._

_He stopped pushing for a bit and sat in the swing beside her. They swung gently side by side for a while, joking around and laughing. When they settled down, Jessica saw a young family walk by, a couple with a baby stroller. She smiled and pointed them to John. Seeing the family, John thought of him and Jessica having a family and he smiled._

"_If we got married and had a son, what would you name him?" he asked Jessica. _

"_Joshua" she'd said without a thought. "Married?" she asked him when she replayed the question in her mind, thinking that it had been her imagination. She loved John and the thought of spending the rest of her life with him filled her with happiness. "Why not?" he said, hoping he had not ruined his chance with Jessica. Instead Jessica laughed. "What?" John laughed with her. "Nothing" she said, "It's just that I thought you wouldn't want to get married and have a family". John looked at her, got off from his swing and knelt in front of her. "I would love to marry you, Jess, and have a family" he said, cradling her face in his hands. "Really?" she said hopefully. "Really" he said, seriously. He loved this woman very much, and he wanted to spend the rest of his days with her and raise a family with her._

_Jessica squealed in delight and hugged John until they both fell from the swing laughing. They stayed on the ground they had fallen on for a while and kissed._

"_Why don't we take a trip to Mexico next month?" he suggested. "Yes" she said kissing him. They got up, dusted the sand off themselves off and walked out of the park. His arm on her waist and her arm on his waist, he leaned his head over hers._

_He thought of getting out of the army. It would take some time, but he had served his country. He would do it and he would surprise her on the trip. Yep, everything seemed perfect now._

"Joshua" he muttered and looked at the boy's picture. "Did you know, Finch? Did you know she had a son?" he didn't need to mention Jessica's name. Finch knew exactly who he was talking about. Finch looked at Reese; how could he explain this to him?

"No, John. I didn't" he admitted. His eyes stared at the floor, looking as if he had failed some major test.

"How, Finch? I thought you could get on any piece of information" he said coldly.

"I didn't know because there wasn't any digital footprint for me to follow. Even the boy's birth certificate is not available" he reasoned with him.

"So how the hell did you get his Number?" he said the word in disgust. Not because he didn't like to say it. He didn't like to refer to the boy as a 'Number'.

"She must have applied for one for him, even though he would have been in danger" he thought.

"Danger?" he looked at Finch?

"It seems that Peter Arnt had borrowed some money from not so likeable characters" he walked back to his desk, clicked for a bit and revealed Peter's financial records. Most of them were already on the negative and some had unusual transactions made from various accounts.

"So we know the danger, now the question is who?" Reese concluded. This might proved to be difficult. By the looks of these accounts, Peter had various loan sharks after him. Anyone of them could be after the boy for the money.

"But the boy wouldn't have access to the money" Reese looked at Finch. "No, but his grandmother would. And they would use the boy to get it" Finch said. Reese looked at the boy's picture once again. He wasn't there to save Jessica but he wasn't going to make the same mistake again. Now that he knew that the child was in danger he could intervene, save him and eliminate every possible threat.

"What are you going to do, John?" Finch asked. He would never voice it, but he was concerned for his partner. He hoped John would not pull a Jenkins.

"I'll keep an eye on the boy. I'll try and see if anyone has done any moves on him" Reese said as he started to walk out of the library.

"Mr. Reese?" Finch called out. Reese turned to look at his boss. "Be careful" Finch said. Nodding, Reese walked out, got in his car and began the long drive to New Rochelle.

Finch looked at the little paper trail Joshua Arnt had. "Don't worry, Jessica, John will take good care of your son."

**~POI~**

**As I said before I am really excited for this story. As for 'The Dancer' I'm still doing the chapter, I'm just having a bit of a hard time to make it flow, but I'm not giving up on it! For 'Firewall', I'm not sure how to continue it, but I'll keep trying on it.**

**As always R&R please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Again, thank you Dragonhaven for being an awesome beta. Congratulations!**

**Person of Interest does not belong to me.**

**Enjoy.**

**~POI~**

After Reese left the library, he wondered how Finch got Joshua's Number. New Rochelle wasn't far, but it wasn't within New York City's range. Curiosity getting the better of him, Reese called Finch.

"Finch, how did you get Joshua's number?" he asked as he was making a turn.

"He must have been visiting New York when his number came up. He does have some family here" Finch knew exactly what Reese meant, so he thought he might as well answer him honestly. What he didn't expect were the questions that came up after.

"Does your Machine oversee New York, or the whole country?"

"The whole country, Mr. Reese" Finch explained. They had worked together this long. No point in keeping Reese in the dark regarding the Machine.

"I see. I'm at the grandmother's house now, Finch. Is there anything you can tell me?" Reese asked. If he had to be honest, he was nervous. He was listing his options, but this would have to be played by ear. The danger could be anywhere and it could happen at any time. If only Peter wasn't so much into debt. Then again, he could be thankful for it was for the bastard that Reese was able to see Jessica's son.

"Not much. I'll tell you when I find something." Finch promised as he hung up.

The sun had risen a bit. It was almost time for the boy to wake up. Reese kept a close eye on the home and its surroundings.

**~POI~**

After a while, Reese noticed it was 6:55. 'They should be getting up soon' he thought and true to this he saw Jessica's mother, Sharon, in the kitchen making breakfast. He continued to watch as Sharon went to wake the boy up.

From where Reese stood he kept watch as Sharon and Joshua ate breakfast together. She then sent the boy to get ready for school as she got ready to do her errands.

They were both ready at 7:30 and left the house. He followed them until they reached the school. He memorized the school and then turned back to the house.

**~POI~**

Arriving back at the empty house Reese was shaking a bit. Not because there was someone else at the house. No, it was the perspective of what he could_ find inside_. That made him nervous. What if he found something and lost all control of himself? He promised Finch he would try to keep himself together. For Finch's and Joshua's sake, he had to keep a hold of himself. Keep total control, if only until this blew over.

With a deep breath he got out of the car and went to the house. Nervous but determined to look at whatever he needed to look at.

**~POI~**

Going inside, he first noticed that not much had changed since the last time he was there. Some furniture was new, and the little coffee table was now out of the attic.

He turned to see a table near the wall. His eyes making a beeline to Jessica's smiling picture. He remembered that picture. He took it on one of their dates. The sunset was perfect, the wind blowing just right, and the scarf was set beautifully on her. He smiled. This picture was a secret for both of them. Sharon had not yet known about them, and it would have roused suspicion, so they went about her and a friend going out, and having to take that picture.

After checking the living room and the kitchen, Reese went up the stairs. He opened the first door; Sharon's room, so nothing there. The next room held nothing as well. It was just an empty room. He then checked the third room. It looked like it belonged to a little boy. He doubted he would find anything but it wouldn't hurt to try.

He carefully looked around, checking every nook and cranny for anything. He looked behind shelves, and cabinets, but found nothing. He looked under the bed, and again found nothing. He lifted the mattress and found a journal. Slightly tipping his head he got the journal and started going through the pages.

"Bark! Bark!" Reese turned to the source only to see a poodle coming towards him. Chuckling, Reese got down in one knee and greeted the dog, "Hello, Princess".

Princess, recognizing Reese, licked his hand and waged her tail furiously. He got up, tucked away the journal, and headed for the attic.

"Want to go to the attic with me, Princess?" he asked the poodle. Yipping, Princess followed Reese all the way up to the attic.

There were boxes on top of boxes. As Reese looked around he saw an old leather chest of drawers with a mirror on top, in the corner of the room. There were a few more boxes but those were father away and a bit dustier than the ones up front.

He opened a box and realized that these 'newer' boxes belonged to Jessica. He slowly opened each box, carefully looking at the contents within. He kept opening and closing each box, looking desperately to see if she had left anything in regards to Peter's debts. He wasn't there to save her, but he WOULD be there to save him.

He kept looking through the boxes and found a little jewelry box. He took it out and looked through each of its little drawers. After checking the top two, he took out the third one all the way. He knew from experience that people tended to hide things under the last drawer. Easy to hide from prying eyes but easy as well to access without drawing too much attention. He took out the papers that were neatly folded inside and looked through them.

He had looked through a couple of papers when he noticed an envelope addressed to him. He placed the letter aside and looked through the other papers. When found nothing, he focused his attention on the envelope.

Opening the envelope he took out the papers inside. It was a letter and a picture of Jessica and a baby.

He looked at the picture; then at the letter. Whatever Jessica had wanted to tell him would be written in this letter.

He started reading, concentrating so hard that his mind blocked any surrounding sound, even the sound of a car going up the driveway and its door opening and closing went by unnoticed. He came back to reality at the sound of the front door opening.

'Damn! Damn! Damn!' he thought, 'how did I not hear the car?' Luckily for him Princess had run out of the attic to greet her master, so he was able to close the door. But now he was stuck. He couldn't leave the attic without risking being seen by Sharon. And he couldn't jump out the window as it was too high, he might hurt himself.

"Damn it" he cursed.

**~POI~**

**Well how about that? Reese is stuck and nowhere to run. Now I ask you, my dear reader, on what should happen on the next chapter. In my page there is a poll up. All you have to do is choose, and if you like pm me on why you think so.**

**As always R&R!**


End file.
